HIGH COMMISSIONER WELCOMES APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT ON OPENING OF RIGHTS OFFICE IN GUATEMALA

1 June 2005


High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today welcomed the endorsement by the Guatemalan legislature of an agreement on the opening of a United Nations human rights office in the country.

In a unanimous vote, the Guatemalan Congress yesterday approved the accord, signed in January by the Government and Mrs. Arbour, under which the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will establish a presence in Guatemala to monitor and report on the human rights situation. The office is expected to open in July.

“We are encouraged to see the endorsement the accord received in Congress and look forward to making a positive contribution to the full implementation of human rights in Guatemala”, the High Commissioner said.

This new OHCHR field presence embodies the strategic vision the High Commissioner has laid out for her Office and which includes more work at the country level and an enhanced leadership role in advocating better implementation of human rights globally. The OHCHR Guatemala Office will also follow on the work done by the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), which was active in the country from 1997 to 2004.

Among other activities, the future OHCHR Guatemala Office will:

· Advise the executive branch on definition and implementation of human rights policies, in particular the Presidential Commission Coordinating the Executive's Policy on Human Rights Matters (COPREDEH);

· Advise representatives of civil society and individuals on all matters related to the promotion and protection of human rights, including the use of national and international protection mechanisms;

· Advise current and future national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular the Human Rights Procurator, the General Attorney and the State Procurator, with a view to strengthening their activities;

· Advise State and non-governmental entities on citizens' education programmes and training programmes for law enforcement officers, attorneys, law faculties, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the judiciary;

· Ensure that the recommendations and decisions of United Nations and other international human rights bodies are taken into account by relevant government entities, and advise them on the adoption of specific measures for their implementation, and

· Inform the competent authorities on human rights violations and other abuses in cases where it believes that domestic legal procedures applied are not consistent with those set forth in international instruments, and recommend possible preventive or remedial action where the Office deems that the circumstances so require.